Wednesday, 10 December 2014

Domestic-use gas shipments to the Gaza Strip will resume Thursday after being suspended since Monday due to a dispute between the Palestinian General Directorate of Petroleum and the Gaza offices of the Palestinian Ministry of Finance, a PA official said Wednesday.

Gaza office director of the General Directorate of Petroleum Ahmad al-Shanti told Ma’an that an agreement was reached to unify gas prices in the West Bank and Gaza. The Gaza office, he said, pledged to adhere to gas prices set by the Palestinian national consensus government every month.

"After deliberations with the General Directorate in Ramallah, they promised to resume gas shipment on Thursday."
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In what seems to be an attempt to nullify a ruling by the Israeli High Court, allowing the Palestinians to use bypass road #443, Israel decided to illegally expropriate 321 Dunams of Palestinian lands, west of the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

The military decision robs 321 Dunams (79.3 Acres) of privately owned Palestinian lands belonging to residents of Beit ‘Or al-Foqa village, Beit ‘Arik village and the town of Betunia.

Head of Beit ‘Or al-Foqa Village Council Rami ‘Alawi said Israel is alleging the decision was made due to “security considerations,” while in fact, "is nothing but theft of Palestinian orchards containing thousands of olive trees."

‘Alawi stated the “decision is vague and ambiguous, and would lead to completing the chain of illegal colonies surrounding the village along with the military base in the area.”

He added the decision also prevents the villagers from using road #443, or even approach it, which turns it into another settler-only road.

The road has already led to the illegal annexation of thousands of Dunams of lands belonging to residents of various villages, west of Ramallah, as it also links with Jerusalem and historic Palestine.

Israel started denying the Palestinians access to the road since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in late September 2000. more

The Palestinian leadership has decided to end all security coordination with Israel in response to the death of a PA official on Wednesday, a senior official said.

Jibril Rajoub told press that the PA will end "all forms of security coordination with Israel for deliberately killing Minister Ziad Abu Ein."

Three soldiers grabbed Abu Ein and hit him in the chest, an AFP photographer said. Abu Ein fell and an Israeli army doctor rushed to treat him before he was evacuated to hospital.

Another witness, Kamal Abu Safaka, said that Abu Ein was "beaten by a soldier" in the chest "after having a conversation with the officer in charge."

His death was condemned by Palestinian factions, with immediate calls to halt security coordination with Israeli forces, a policy already widely unpopular with Palestinians.

Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad called on the PA to halt all security coordination following news of Abu Ein's death, with Islamic Jihad leader Khalid al-Batsh saying Israel only understands the "language of force."

Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouthi said the PA official's death reflects the "barbarism and savagery of the Israeli occupation," while the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine urged the international community to take action to prove human rights organizations have any credibility.

Abu Ein, 55, has previously been arrested and imprisoned by Israel. more

The head of the Palestinian Authority committee against the separation wall and settlements died Wednesday after Israeli soldiers assaulted him in a village near Ramallah, committee sources said.

Ziad Abu Ein died after an Israeli soldier beat him on the chest with his helmet in the village of Turmsayya in the Ramallah district, the director of the committee's information center, Jamil al-Barghouthi, told Ma'an.